Cerne uses novel tools to teach undergraduates

By DAVID J. HILL

“It’s the best feeling when you’re listening to students try to explain physics and they’re alive.”

John Cerne, Associate Professor

Department of Physics

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Student engagement is critical to the learning process in John
Cerne's undergraduate physics courses.

For John Cerne, student engagement is critical to the learning
process in his undergraduate physics courses. After all, he says,
if he’s not going to actively involve students in the class,
why not just film his lectures and play them for students.

But that doesn’t help them understand concepts as complex
as quantum mechanics and radioactive decay. “If the lecture
is just my monologue, that’s not a good use of lecture
time,” says Cerne, an associate professor of physics.
“They could just watch a video of me doing this.”

He finds a number of ways to make learning “click”
in his classes. One of the most popular—and
effective—methods employs a personal response system. When he
asks a question in class, students select a response using a
personal response device. If most of the students answer correctly,
he knows they’ve grasped the concept and he can move on to
the next part of the lecture.

If, however, the class is split on the answer, Cerne asks the
question a second time, but this time he tells the students to talk
over the answer with their neighbor. Typically, the students who
are more convincing in their argument are the ones who answered the
question correctly and can explain it to their neighbor. This, he
says, is where he delights in being at the front of the class.

“In a traditional lecture, it’s quieter and the
students aren’t as involved. And then you do this and
they’re talking—and they’re talking about
physics! It’s the best feeling when you’re listening to
students try to explain physics and they’re alive,”
says Cerne, who came to UB in 1999.

Cerne also isn’t the type to read a textbook chapter to
his students during class. Instead, students are asked to read the
chapter before the class and answer a few questions about it
online. The students’ responses help him tailor his lecture
to the concepts students struggled with most.

All of this helps to make students actively involved in their
learning. “One of the big challenges in teaching is that you
never can tell what’s getting across and what isn’t.
You don’t want to wait until the exam to find out the
students didn’t learn anything in Chapter 35,” he
says.

And while these are some of the teaching tools Cerne employs in
his current classes, he’s always open to new methods.
“My theory on teaching is, if you teach the lecture the same
way, after five years you’re going to peak. Another 10 years
isn’t going to make a difference. You have to try new
things,” he says.